New Approaches Create Powerful Changes

Dennis Sparks, Executive Director of the National Staff Development Council, illustrates a different kind of classroom and school staff relationships when he describes powerful professional development as that which:

• Deepens teacher knowledge of the content they teach.
• Expands teacher repertoires of research-based instructional skills to teach the content.
• Provides ongoing classroom assistance in implementing new skills.
• Has at its core a small team of teachers who meet several times each week to plan lessons, critique student work, and assist in problem-solving.
• Provides teachers with classroom assessment skills that allow them to regularly monitor gains in student learning, resulting in improved classroom practices.
• Is surrounded by a culture and supported by structures that encourage innovation, experimentation, and collegial sharing of new ideas and practices.
• Connects teachers to teachers within and beyond their schools and to outside sources of knowledge/skills.

Michigan Department of Education Professional Development Think Tank to Develop a Professional Development Vision for Michigan, October 2000